For The Love Of Music: The Senior Year
by goldnote
Summary: Arianna and Elissa have only one year left with their band before graduation! With a band director on their side at last, what problems will these girls and the band still face? Rated T...
1. The Curse Is Over

_So, I'm sort of sad that this is the last installment of the "For The Love Of Music" series. I say sort of sad because this is a history of my own and my friend's years of band ever since the beginning of high school. True, our band has a unique story, but there are other students who have had band director changes, too. I have to say, though, some very interesting things have happened to Arianna and Elissa and the rest of the group, as well as the rest of the band directors. _

_There is no ending to this story in sight because the ending will come with the ending of Arianna's senior year, something that is coming up way too fast. I can't predict the future, but I hope Elissa and Arianna find happiness and peace in their music at last!_

_I'm not happy with some of the other chapters in the other installments of this series, so when I have time, I might just go back and change a few things. Gah... Pyrate Rose, my friend, had the basic beginning to this story, so I credit her for the outline of this chapter._

_Anyway, here we are! The first chapter in the last story! Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter One: The Curse Is Over

"I've got the hardest first quarter classes ever!" Elissa complained, taking her seat at the usual morning table.

"I have school service in the band room," Arianna said with a smirk, causing Elissa to roll her eyes. Ari had been talking about being the school worker for the band department and there was no doubt she would follow through with it, but it had actually happened. Her friend was an official band slave.

"I have College Government-"

"Me, too!" interrupted Arianna, cutting Elissa's sentence short and causing Elissa to huff in frustration. "Sorry. Continue."

"Then it's Chemistry, Choir, and Algebra."

Both girls shuddered at the thought of Algebra and Arianna gave Elissa a sympathetic look. She herself had nearly failed the most basic math classes and Algebra scared Elissa. The fact was she needed that class to graduate and there was no way Elissa was staying in town after she earned her diploma.

"No band?" Arianna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not this quarter, at least," Elissa answered. "Colorguard, remember?"

Arianna nodded, but didn't say a word. Colorguard was a tough subject at the moment, Elissa only recently having been fired from her job as commander and coach. Elissa had poured her heart into the guard and wasn't even notified personally with the decision to change leadership under the band director's orders.

"I was looking forward to the Homecoming show and everything," Elissa added bitterly. "Now, I'm going to be stuck playing the cymbals or something awful and I'm going to have to watch my girls perform from the back of the field. Stupid Vogl..."

Arianna fought back a comment that slid to the tip of her tongue. She knew there was more to Vogl's choice of hiring another colorguard director than just the fact he needed someone with more experience, but decided to keep her mouth shut for the fact that having a huge fight was not a good way to start their last year of high school.

"So, uh, do you think he's actually down there?" Arianna asked nervously after a few seconds of silence, tracing a scratch in the plastic tabletop with her fingernail.

"What? Vogl, you mean?"

"Yeah. I mean, I know he said he'd be here, and he made it past the final parade, longer than any of the others, but do you think something might have happened? Do you think he's-"

"He's been here longer than any of the others," Elissa said, interrupting Arianna, who fell into her silent thoughts while making new scratches on the table with her fingernails. "Let's go down and see."

Elissa jumped up, pulling her backpack onto her shoulders with a groan. Arianna smiled and followed her friend through the hallways and down the stairs to the band room.

* * *

Slowly, the girls crept toward the band office, peeking around the corner and into the room. Hesitantly, Arianna walked into the office, looking around. It was empty, but a shocking change had taken place since the last time the girls had been to the band office, nearly three weeks ago.

Instead of the faded yellow walls covered in graffiti, the cement bricks had been given a new layer of white paint, all graffiti gone. Shelves against the largest wall, to the right of the office door, had been painted black. There were frames on the walls, most of which held certificates and photos of their director's days in college, adding class and personality to the office. There was still a beat up desk against the wall and the clock was still showing the wrong time, but it was a sweet reminder of the former years the office had seen. Arianna smiled to see that the black webbed chair was still around and she slid a hand across it's top, holding in the urge to sit down and lean back in happiness. This was an office a director deserved.

"It looks different in here," Elissa said, Arianna smiling wider at her blatant obviousness. "It's been painted."

"You should see the back rooms," Arianna said, recalling the days she had spent with a fellow flute player, Kassie, several weeks ago, painting. Mr. Vogl had brought in a gallon of paint and, together, they worked to fix the practice and storage room walls. "We worked really hard on them. I guess Mr. Vogl decided to fix up his office after we left."

"Where is he, though?" Elissa asked, frowning.

"I was wondering when you two were going to show up," came a voice from behind them.

Mr. Vogl stood in the doorway to the band room with a grin on his face. Elissa jumped and Arianna wanted to hug him, both girls shaking their head.

"You ARE here!" Elissa exclaimed. "The curse has been broken!"

"Finally," Arianna said, sighing, relieved she didn't have to go through the usual introductions she had made every year until now.

"Sure has been quiet around here without you two," Mr. Vogl laughed, a mischievous glint in his eye. "No one pestering me, no one to pester..."

"Don't worry," Elissa said, "You'll have enough of us soon and be begging for an escape."

The bell rang, alerting the students and staff that the first class of the day would be starting in a minute. Arianna sighed, unwilling to leave the band area so soon after arriving. Elissa, knowing her friend would sooner skip class and stay in the band room than go to College Government with her, grabbed her hand. Arianna let herself be led from the band room, calling a goodbye over her shoulder to Mr. Vogl, who waved back.

"The curse is over," Elissa repeated as they arrived just in time for their first class. "Vogl is here and this might be a good year after all!"

The two of them looked around at the messy classroom and thick textbooks laying on all the desks, a long list of requirements on the board. This was, after all, a college class, but neither of them thought it would be like this.

"Or maybe not so good," Arianna muttered, taking her seat and trying to lift the textbook. Elissa nodded in agreement, itching to clean up the scattered newspapers and toppled piles of CD's.

This was the start of their senior year and they were going to make it the best year ever!

_

* * *

There we are! I get sad, again, because this is the last part of "For The Love Of Music." But, I know there are a lot of faithful readers out there who like this series, so I want to hear from you! I know this is a bit of a departure from "Hearts Of Glass," my drum corps fic (which is wildly successful, thank you!) but I enjoy reminiscing! If you're confused at all on things mentioned in this story, it might be because I have not written the parts of the other stories that make sense! It's okay! If you're REALLY confused, ask me and I'll be very happy to explain. I'll continue working on the other stories in the series, though, so look for more updates! Thank you for reading and please review! Thank you!_


	2. Mess And Anxiety

_Hello! I've just started the actual outline of this story. It's tough to remember things far back, but even tougher to remember things that have happened recently, I think. I know I was sitting here for a few minutes, trying to think of all that happened in the past few months and how I can apply that to Arianna and Elissa. It's tough! I just needed a break from "Hearts Of Glass" and, because this story has few readers (thank you very much to those of you who read and review, by the way!), I think this is a good way to work on my writing style and really start rough drafts of things I can include in other stories. This is almost a transitional story to go from my personal experiences to absolute fiction. So, this is a fanfiction story of the people and band and problems Arianna and Elissa face because it's not an exact, true story, but it's pretty close to real life, too. It's not true fiction, but not true reality. Hum..._

_Anyway, I'll let you get on with the story. I would appreciate a few reviews! That would be nice... Just to hear what people think! Thank you!_

* * *

Chapter Two: Mess And Anxiety

Elissa settled back in her chair, shoving a book into her backpack as she sighed. The college government class was almost over. Almost, meaning there was still ten more minutes on the clock until the bell would ring, dismissing her from the nightmare of a room. The stacks of newspapers next to Arianna's desk bothered Elissa; she wanted to go clean them up so badly, but didn't dare get out of her seat and mess around with them, even though other people were getting up and moving around.

"Ari?"

No answer. Elissa, raising an eyebrow, looked over to where her best friend sat, dangerously close to the newspaper mess should the news decide to grow teeth and eat her. Elissa didn't doubt it could happen; who knew how old those things were?

"Arianna, what are you doing?" she asked, trying not to sound too interested. Arianna didn't look up again, only raising her own eyebrow in acknowledgment and going back to studying her- what was it?

"Don't tell me you stole that," Elissa muttered, grimacing as Arianna waved her fingers though the air, subtle and absolutely freakish. "Where did you find it?"

"I didn't steal it," Arianna replied. "I borrowed it. Vogl gave it to me to study. Actually, Mr. Schmidt did... I'm supposed to conduct it today and I'm really nervous."

Showing Elissa, Arianna stopped conducting and held up the score for her friend to read. Laughing, Elissa shook her head.

"That's a weird name for a song."

"I don't think so. I think 'Marching Down The Main Street' is nice. It's supposed to be conducted in two, but I don't think the seventh graders are going to handle that. I'm just going to conduct it in four and see what happens."

"You're really conducting it?"

"Yup. Mostly practice for me. The kids hate it."

"Why?"

"For the same reason I don't like it. It's boring. Only the title is cool."

"That's not cool, Ari," Elissa replied, glancing at the clock. Only eight more minutes to go. Great. She just killed two minutes by talking with her friend, who was more into working on reading the score than talking with her. Only eight more minutes to go.

"How is school service going with the band directors?"

"It's okay. I've been working really hard and they've been nice. The student teacher is going to be working with the band all week next week, so I have nothing to do then. I'm probably going to brush up on my cheers if the directors don't give me anything to do."

Elissa laughed out loud, causing a narrow line to form between Arianna's eyebrows as she frowned.

"Please don't tell me you're laughing at the fact I'm a cheerleader."

"I'm laughing at the fact you are a cheerleader. It's just not like you, Ari!"

"I was a cheerleader last year and you didn't have such a big problem with it!"

"Yeah, but that was for wrestling. You sat on little pillows and hit the floor while wearing a short little skirt. Now you're going to be missing pep band, dancing in a shorter little skirt in the cold, clapping your hands."

"Oh, well..."

"Don't you have any shame?"

"I'm in a sport. I'm happy about it and I wish you would just let it go."

"Never. That's not a sport. Cheering is not a sport. Now colorguard is a sport! If colorguard isn't a sport, cheering REALLY isn't."

"'Lissa, you have nothing better to do than taunt me?"

"Nope."

"Why don't you go organize that stack of newspapers over there while you wait for the bell to ring?"

Elissa sighed. Five more minutes to go...

* * *

It had been nearly a week and a half since school had started and Arianna was thrilled that she was already conducting the band. She was working with the seventh grade band during her eighty five minutes of service for the band directors, plus helping the student teacher, Mitchell, get accustomed to working in the school. She wasn't happy that it was such a small, silly song she was working on, but Arianna knew her conducting skills had to be polished to conduct anything else. It had only been a week, anyway.

"Hey, Ari!" Vogl said as she walked into his office and dropped her backpack and jacket in the closet. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm okay. Elissa was just teasing me about being a cheerleader, but I was looking through the score and I'm excited to work with the band today! How are you?"

"I'm good," the director said, turning back to the computer and pounding away at the keys. "You can borrow my baton again if you want."

"Thanks," Arianna said, smiling. Vogl pulled it out of it's coffee mug home and handing it over, Arianna sliding her fingers up the white, tapered bit of wood until she reached the blunted end. It was hard to believe that she actually was conducting in a concert style setting, not just field conducting.

"As for the cheerleader thing, I can't help you," Sarg laughed. "How was class?"

"Boring, as usual. I didn't want to admit I am just taking the college government course for the credits. I'm really not interested in government. But, I said I was happy to be there and I'm looking forward to the end of the quarter."

"At least you're honest."

"At least the mess in that room hasn't engulfed me yet."

A young man entered the room, his floppy hair and rolling voice making him seem like a California surfer. If it wasn't for his pale face and small stature, Arianna wouldn't have thought he reminded her of someone she once knew.

"Hey, Arianna," he said, "Are you conducting today?"

"Yeah, if you want me to," she answered, nodding her head as she dug the score out of her backpack. "If you need time to conduct, though, you can go today."

"No problem, you can conduct."

Arianna and Mitchell, a college student, switched back and forth between student teaching. Mitchell was teaching to pass his class and get his music degree. Arianna was teaching because she enjoyed it. It didn't hurt that she was already getting a jump start on her education when it came to becoming a band director.

"Well, I'm going to go see what Mr. Schmidt wants me to do today," Mitchell said, shrugging his shoulders as the conversation ceased and the room became uncomfortably silent. As he shuffled off, Arianna bit her lip. Elissa had a super crush on Mitchell already and now was about time she would come down before class started to see him. This day, though, she didn't arrive and Arianna, though sad her friend didn't stop by, was also relieved that she wouldn't have to watch her friend hit on a college student.

"I suppose I'm going to go and wait for my turn to work with the band and then get some copies run off for the percussion of that last song we worked on yesterday."

"Sounds good, Ari," Mr. Vogl said, smiling at her once more. "See ya later."

"See ya later, Sarg.," she answered, leaving the office with apprehension. She was always nervous before she conducted. The first time she had gotten on the podium, after spending the entire night previous working out a lesson plan and figuring out an answer to every possible question, Arianna had blanked. All the eyes looking at her, sizing her up, expecting leadership. These weren't her classmates, the kids she worked with in summer band, the people she was going to graduate with and see in college. This was the future of the band program.

And she was so afraid she was going to mess it up.

* * *


End file.
